Surviving Regret by Megan Smith

Well, I didn’t see that coming!

This one was willing to hit hard enough to leave me more than a little emotional at times. The power with which the author delivered Macy and Landon’s story was so strong that it brought the pain of their situation absolutely front and centre.

One night, one foolish mistake and this group of friends are left with nothing but a desire to go back and never repeat their mistakes again, and as they struggle to come to terms with the events of that night, some more than others this is their story.

Time may have moved on by Landon hasn’t, he continues to carry the weight of the accident heavy in his heart, his punishment is the isolation that he forces on himself, his feelings for Macy are as strong as they have always been but 3 years down the line and she is the one thing he can’t have, he won’t allow himself to have.

But what about Macy?

She loved and still loves Landon but he does everything in his power to try and force her to hate him, he needs her repulsion in order to solidify the way he feels about himself almost but she can’t do it, she can’t blame him for what happened but is she willing to allow his self-loathing to take her future too? Does she think that by letting Landon treat her this way is her punishment for that night?

This was a painful journey for each of them, they may have suffered separately but this was collective grief at its very worst, they perpetuated their own misery.

I found the tone of the book to be almost subdued as it was dealing with a painfully emotional subject matter. An almost narrative prose made the story all the more poignant and it was that, that made the most impact with me.

Beautifully written, this one of the rare books that I can say reduced me to tears.